Strong earthquake near Iran nuclear plant kills dozens

A powerful earthquake has struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station, killing at least 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two small villages.

The magnitude 6.3 quake totally destroyed one village, a Red Crescent official told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), but the nearby Bushehr nuclear plant was undamaged, according to Iranian officials and the Russian company that built it.

Many houses in rural parts of the province are made of mud bricks, which have been known to crumble easily in quake-prone Iran.

The death toll is expected to climb, as the stricken area is home to some 12,000 inhabitants.

Across the Gulf, offices in Qatar and Bahrain were evacuated after the quake. Its epicentre was 89 km south-east of the port of Bushehr, according to the US Geological Survey.

The early afternoon shock was also felt in financial hub Dubai, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates

The Russian company that built the nuclear power station, 18km south of Bushehr, said the plant was unaffected.

"Personnel continue to work in the normal regime and radiation levels are fully within the norm," Russian state news agency RIA quoted an official at Atomstroyexport as saying.

Iran informed the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency that there was "no damage to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and no radioactive release from the installation".

One Bushehr resident said the quake shook her home and the homes of her neighbours but they were not damaged.

"We could clearly feel the earthquake," she said. "The windows and chandeliers all shook."

While initial fears about nuclear fallout receded, nearer the epicentre rescue efforts ramped up into the night in search of survivors and to feed and house hundreds of residents who were traumatised by at least 14 aftershocks.

A Red Crescent official told ISNA that 20 people had been saved by rescue teams searching through the rubble.

Reports in Iranian media spoke of landslides destroying buildings and crowds gathering in the town of Dashti from outlying areas in search of help. Military officials said army and police units had been deployed to maintain order.

Water and electricity lines were severed and communities stayed in the streets because of the threat from aftershocks.

In a statement, Iran's most powerful authority Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered his condolences to the victims and urged authorities to extend all efforts to save lives and help the afflicted.